“‘Blue Mondays’ Aren’t Really Blue — So Why Do We Think They Are?” An analysis of data on mood, with a nod to use of data!

Read this, and maybe your next Sunday evening/Monday morning will be less of a bummer:

‘Blue Mondays’ Aren’t Really Blue — So Why Do We Think They Are? – NYTimes.com.

Gotta love this conclusion…

“So although debunking blue Mondays provides a clearer view of daily life experience, the real value of this work comes from understanding the psychological processes that create our memories — and the impact this has on our decisions.”

That’s a strong nod to use (particularly process/knowledge use — that’s the understanding part, but also instrumental use — that’s the decision making part*) . What decisions do you think this might impact? I know I’ll be thinking about that as the weekend winds down, and maybe I won’t justify an extra special mexican mocha ‘because it’s Monday so I deserve a treat.’

*See Utilization-focused Evaluation by Michael Quinn Patton for more on his typology for evaluative data use.